The present invention relates to a food product comprising a substantially solid mass based on chocolate or a chocolate-like product in contact with a moist medium in the non-gelled state, which is in particular a milk base, having a local free water content of between 45 and 88%, said substantially solid mass having a low water uptake under appropriate preservation conditions. The invention therefore relates to compositions intended to be maintained in a refrigerated state, but does not relate to ice creams.
Food bars are known which consist of a filling coated with a shell made of chocolate or a chocolate-like product.
Food compositions are also known which are loaded with chips of chocolate or a chocolate-like product. In other words, these compositions consist, on the one hand, of a continuous phase, the term xe2x80x9ccontinuousxe2x80x9d being taken in a very broad sense which covers, for example, vienna-type products, pastry bases, and, on the other hand, granules or chips of chocolate or the like.
Multilayer structures are also known which consist of layers of chocolate or a chocolate-like product separated by pastry layers based on milk or non-milk materials of the jam type.
The filling of food bars or the continuous phase of these food compositions or the pastry or milk-based layers should have a low local free water (or LFW) content in order to avoid hydration of the solid chocolate masses. Indeed, in the case where the local free water content of the filling or of the continuous phase is too high, hydration of the solid masses of chocolate or the like occurs, leading to several negative effects which make the food product unfit for marketing.
On the one hand, the chocolate or chocolate-like product being a product which is naturally contaminated, its hydration causes the development of bacteria which contaminate the moist medium, which is unacceptable because of the preservation standards required in industrialized countries.
On the other hand, the taste value of the solid masses of chocolate or a chocolate-like product lies in their xe2x80x9ccrunchyxe2x80x9d character which is specific to this substance. Excessive hydration (migration of the water across the thickness of the chocolate) causes its decolorization, except for white chocolate, and its gradual softening (destruction and loss of crunchiness) by the outside and leads to rejection of such a food product by the consumer.
The production of a chocolate or a chocolate-like product which is resistant to water is therefore of major interest for the development of food products comprising a phase whose local content of water is high, in contact with a solid mass of chocolate or a chocolate-like product.
Conventional chocolates as this is well known can be divided into three categories according to the cocoa content:
dark chocolate about 19% of dry and defatted cocoa,
milk chocolate about 6% of dry and defatted cocoa,
white chocolate 0% of dry and defatted cocoa.
In milk and white chocolates, a portion or the whole of the dry and defatted cocoa is replaced by milk fat or milk particles. The normal sugar content of chocolates is of the order of 25 to 57%. These chocolates exhibit an excessive water uptake for the desired applications indicated above.
Accordingly, it has already been proposed to modify the compositions of chocolate or a chocolate-like product so as to adapt them to the abovementioned embodiments.
Patent EP 615 692 describes a refrigerated product containing pieces of chocolate which can be preserved for 5 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator and whose pieces preserve their integrity well during this lapse of time.
This patent indicates that the sugar level is between 1 and 10% and preferably between 1 and 3%. However, such an embodiment leads to solid masses of chocolate or a chocolate-like product having a bitter taste which can put off certain consumers. Furthermore, in order to mask this bitterness as much as possible, it is necessary to limit the size of the chocolate particles, in particular between 1 and 4 mm.
Patent application EP-A-664 959 describes a composition containing an edible fat in a substantially solid form in contact with a non-gelled moist medium. This patent application relates in particular to a chocolate composition which has a fat content (cocoa butter or vegetable oil) greater than 70% by weight and a dry and defatted cocoa/sugar ratioxe2x89xa70.5.
It is indeed taught that a fat level of less than 70%, and more particularly of less than 85%, leads to chocolates which become hydrated in contact with the moist medium and which soften over time. It will be noted that in comparative trials, a chocolate composition containing 55% of cocoa butter, 30% of sugars and 15% of dry and defatted cocoa leads to a water uptake of 16% and to a soft surface, after only two weeks of preservation. This water uptake is measured by the method described in xe2x80x9cREGULATIONS for chemical physical and microbiological research in the dairy industry, a publication of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Zuivelbond FNZ (Royal Dutch Dairy Association)xe2x80x9d.
On the other hand, the compositions having a fat level of 85% have a low water uptake and preserve their crunchy character.
The chocolates thus produced are therefore either very unbalanced from the organoleptic point of view (bitter, not sweet, low flavor), or reveal a fatty mouthfeel and give a bad nutritional image because of the very high fat content. Furthermore, chocolates with a high fat content have a high cost.
Patent application EP-A-770 332 also describes a food product in which one or more layers consist of a breakable solid mass of chocolate. The chocolate layer has a thickness of between 0.1 and 3 mm and a sugar syrup content of less than 17%, preferably between 2 and 3%. According to this document, such a layer preserves the crunchy character desired by the consumer.
It will be noted that this document presents a teaching similar to patent application EP-A-615 692 since in both cases, it is recommended to minimize the sugar content, which leads to very unbalanced chocolates from the organoleptic point of view (bitter, not sweet, low flavor).
Application WO 97/15198 describes barrier layers between two media with different Aw values, these barrier layers consisting essentially of fat or of a mixture of fat and lactose. This document recommends not introducing sucrose into the composition of the barrier layers because that reduces the performance of the barrier.
After systematic studies, the applicant has demonstrated that, contrary to the teachings described in the abovementioned documents, the water-resistant character of the chocolate was not linked to the low sugar content. Because of this, the invention breaks with the bias according to which sugar is more unfavorable to water resistance than cocoa. Moreover, the invention shows that it is possible to produce water-resistant chocolates whose fat content is less than 80% preferably less than 70% depending on the nature of the moist medium, while preserving a good organoleptic balance.
The applicant has found that a novel chocolate or chocolate-like product composition in the form of a solid mass made it possible to use said mass of chocolate or a chocolate-like product in combination with a moist medium, in particular a milk base, while preserving the desired crunchy character.
In general, the invention is characterized in that the substantially solid mass of chocolate or a chocolate-like product comprises, as a percentage by weight:
the dry and defatted cocoa/(sugars and optionally skimmed milk powder) weight ratio being less than 0.45 and the solid mass being such that for a moist medium having a local free water content of between 45 and 88%, the parameter (xcfx84) is less than 3, the parameter xcfx84 being defined by the equation (1):
xe2x80x83xcfx84=(xe2x88x92[water]+0.37)xc3x97F+(5.25xc3x97[water]xe2x88x921.67)xc3x97(S+SMP)+(26.2xc3x97[water]xe2x88x929.6)xc3x97C+(61xc3x97[water]xe2x88x9214.5)xc3x97(S+SMP)xc3x97C with:
[water] is the local free water content of the moist phase in contact (in g/g),
F is the fat content of the chocolate or equivalent (in g/g),
S+SMP is the content of sugars+skimmed milk powder of the chocolate or equivalent (in g/g),
C is the dry and defatted cocoa content of the chocolate or equivalent (in g/g).
This makes it possible to obtain chocolates which are very water-resistant, in particular for fat contents of greater than or equal to 70%.